Newly declassified intelligence and research records provide a detailed look at how U.S. agencies evaluated the origins of COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic. The documents show that a national laboratory considered a laboratory-origin scenario credible and that federally funded coronavirus research overlapped with work involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The release also documents interactions between Anthony Fauci and intelligence officials regarding COVID-19 origins. Taken together, the materials suggest that significant evidence supporting a lab-origin possibility existed internally while public messaging focused heavily on natural emergence.
Declassified files released by Tulsi Gabbard link U.S.-funded coronavirus research to Wuhan-related projects, show government scientists considered a lab leak plausible in 2020, and indicate Fauci participated in intelligence discussions he later denied under oath. pic.twitter.com/NU5GboNH2m
— Matthew Brady (@mattbrady775) June 20, 2026
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released newly declassified documents concerning COVID-19 origins and U.S.-funded coronavirus research on her final day in office.
- A May 2020 assessment from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory concluded that a laboratory-related origin of COVID-19 was a serious possibility and found that conditions for an accidental release were present at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2019.
- The documents show NIH-funded research involving coronavirus spike-protein modification, receptor adaptation, testing in humanized mice, and collaborations connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology through EcoHealth Alliance programs.
- Records indicate Anthony Fauci participated in discussions with intelligence officials regarding COVID-19 origins while later denying knowledge of or participation in such discussions during congressional testimony.
- Internal communications reveal concerns about intelligence-community handling of COVID-origin assessments, political sensitivities, and reviewer selection.
- The release portrays a coordinated effort to downplay the lab-origin hypothesis while publicly promoting a natural-origin explanation.
